Feds Get a Cybersecurity Czar

President Obama appointed Howard Schmidt as the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator last week. He will be responsible for orchestrating cybersecurity activities across the government and coordinating efforts to better protect private information networks.

Schmidt comes to the administration from the Information Security Forum, a not-for-profit consortium of more than 300 private and public entities that provide guidance on information security issues. He served as an advisor on cybersecurity to former President George W. Bush, and previously led information security efforts at eBay and Microsoft Corp.

He will be on the White House national security staff and have "regular" access to Obama, according to the administration.